St Francis Xavier's College Hamilton students Francesca Moretti and Grace Hewitt, both 18, were among 3756 students in NSW to sit the 175 minute paper, which brought to an end a marathon month of exams.

The girls said it hadn't quite sunk in they'd finished the tests and 13 years of schooling.

"I'm a bit shocked, I feel like I'm not done," Grace said.

"It just feels like another day, like the half yearlies.

"It probably won't hit until next week. Going home and not studying is going to be really weird, not having it on your conscience is going to be such a relief."

Francesca agreed: "It does not feel like it's the last time to be in the school," she said. "We've had such a long journey."

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The girls said they had to dig deep to stay motivated and focused as they watched their friends finish their exams and start celebrating.

The girls said the paper was "on par" with expectations and they were able to "find ways of working around" the few tough questions as the paper increased in difficulty.

They said the multiple choice first section was "fine", while Francesca said there was a tricky question in the short answer second section about raw material specifications, which they studied more than a year ago.

They said the third section's multiple-part question was mostly straight-forward.

Francesca said the fourth section's 15-mark question about sectors of the Australian food industry was "not as hard as I was expecting".

The class of 2021 has been the most affected by the pandemic, with disruptions to both their year 11 and 12 studies.

"I found it very mentally draining, you had to pick yourself up and keep going so many times," Grace said.

"It was stop and start, there were so many what-ifs.

"Leading up to it I was 'Is this actually going to happen? Is a new strain of COVID going to come? Are they going to push it back again?' That's what I was most afraid of."

Both said they'd initially wanted the exams cancelled, but are now proud to have achieved the milestone in challenging circumstances.

"I've learned more about myself and my resilience in regards to putting the effort in and contributing to school lessons," Francesca said.

"I could have not, but I chose to, even during home learning. It's been about growth for me. It's made me stronger and I've learnt so much from it... it showed me what I can do as a person."

Grace said she felt a sense of achievement and success even before receiving her Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) on January 20.

"We'll have so much greater life experience, because you've had to restart and get stronger again each time and that's just replicating what's going to happen in real life," she said.

"It's also taught me you have to know what you can control and what you can't... I had a choice to control what I could and try to get the best from the situation, which I feel like I did very well."

Francesca has received early entry to business and commerce at the University of Newcastle, while Grace will relocate to Brisbane in January for "a new start" and is hoping for an offer to psychology at the University of Queensland.

But for now, the girls are enjoying not thinking about their studies.

Their graduation dinner was Friday night and their parents attended.

"They have been on this journey just as much as we have," Grace said.

Francesca is looking forward to trips to South West Rocks and Jervis Bay, while athletics star Grace is focused on training for events next year.

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